Organic Chemistry

High on my horse and wide with a grin

I recently stumbled on my reflection of CHEM 142 and CHEM 152. It was very fun to see myself analyzing what went wrong in chemistry in those early years. A favorable quote concludes my CHEM 142 reflection: “We will see how I do when I rejoin my enemy, chemistry, in the future.” It was smart for me to take a break of chemistry and switch series. Although switching series might seem like a sign of defeat, I found a lot of enjoyment and success with the organic chemistry classes. I’m allowed to brag in these reflections, because where else is it socially acceptable to do so? :) I frequently walk out of tests very confident with how it went. Despite being confident, it is always inevitable to miss some questions and a shotgun splatter of points. For the first time in my college experience I sat in front of my TA as he announced the standard deviation, minimum score, and maximum score of 68/70 achieved by one person in his section and one in the rest of the class. I walked out of there high on my horse and wide with a grin. Many factors contributed to this achievement. Yes it was an easier series with less pre-medicine competition. I also found organic chemistry extremely interesting. It was more visual than the physics and equation driven general chemistry counterpart. The benzene rings were puzzle pieces and the reaction was like an ordinary evening at my grandmother’s fitting one piece to the next. I did not skip any class during this series which I believe is another contributing factor and a sign of my maturation as a college student. It also helped that I could make it to soccer immediately following class. I am happy to say that I will not shutter when I hear the words chemistry.